3 ms·

Yes, the cancellers know that self-publishing is not the solution, and the authors know that going that route is the road to perdition and permanent unpersoning

Yes, the cancellers know that self-publishing is not the solution, and the authors know that going that route is the road to perdition and permanent unpersoning. The authors know that they have to write a long mea culpa and promise to "do better" and "be an ally" and funnel a good chunk of money into the canceller ecosystem with sensitivity readers and empowering diverse voices.

shadowgovt 4y ago
Interestingly enough, I can't think of J.K. Rowling doing any of that, and her net worth is like a billion. Nor Orson Scott Card (net worth $10 million). In fact I'm kinda racking my brain thinking of any examples of someone doing this recently... I'm starting to think the problem isn't the author's personal positions, it's that they're writing books few people want to read in the first place and the public finding out they're also not the sort of folks the public wants to support financially does their sales no favors on top of that.
- spoonjim 4y ago
  Of course JK Rowling doesn't have to apologize, her net worth is like a billion. Cancellation is most public when targeting extremely famous people but it's the less famous people who actually get harmed: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/books/amelie-wen-zhao-blood-heir.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/books/amelie-wen-zhao-blo...
  - shadowgovt 4y ago
    Looks like she tripped over the American assumption that the flavor of slavery experienced in their territory was the only type. ... But, she was planning to sell to an American audience so that matters. If anything, it sounds like the feedback gave her a chance to tighten her fiction to be aligned better to the target market. That's a win for her and her publisher.
    - spoonjim 4y ago
      Ah, so now it's a good thing to change PoC lived experiences to match the stereotypes held by the majority-White American YA fiction market?
      - shadowgovt 4y ago
        Depends on one's goals. Marvel Cinematic Universe movies are formulaic as hell and rack incredible amounts of money. Anybody who just wants to write can drop their thoughts on a blog and call it a day. People who want to make money writing have to account for shaping the message to part people from their dollars. Fifty Shades of Grey started as Twilight fanfiction. In that form it couldn't be marketed. A few name changes and some reframing and it has sold over 150 million copies.

shadowgovt 4y ago

Interestingly enough, I can't think of J.K. Rowling doing any of that, and her net worth is like a billion. Nor Orson Scott Card (net worth $10 million). In fact I'm kinda racking my brain thinking of any examples of someone doing this recently... I'm starting to think the problem isn't the author's personal positions, it's that they're writing books few people want to read in the first place and the public finding out they're also not the sort of folks the public wants to support financially does their sales no favors on top of that.

spoonjim 4y ago
Of course JK Rowling doesn't have to apologize, her net worth is like a billion. Cancellation is most public when targeting extremely famous people but it's the less famous people who actually get harmed: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/books/amelie-wen-zhao-blood-heir.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/books/amelie-wen-zhao-blo...
- shadowgovt 4y ago
  Looks like she tripped over the American assumption that the flavor of slavery experienced in their territory was the only type. ... But, she was planning to sell to an American audience so that matters. If anything, it sounds like the feedback gave her a chance to tighten her fiction to be aligned better to the target market. That's a win for her and her publisher.
  - spoonjim 4y ago
    Ah, so now it's a good thing to change PoC lived experiences to match the stereotypes held by the majority-White American YA fiction market?
    - shadowgovt 4y ago
      Depends on one's goals. Marvel Cinematic Universe movies are formulaic as hell and rack incredible amounts of money. Anybody who just wants to write can drop their thoughts on a blog and call it a day. People who want to make money writing have to account for shaping the message to part people from their dollars. Fifty Shades of Grey started as Twilight fanfiction. In that form it couldn't be marketed. A few name changes and some reframing and it has sold over 150 million copies.